From the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, April 2:
Lego larceny, cattle scams, Real Housewives of fraud and money laundering, and the fugitive Italian gangster busted after showcasing his culinary skills on YouTube ― OCCRP’s Daily News team here, bringing you this week’s oddities in corruption and organized crime.
Authorities in France are attempting to block the activities of a Polish gang involved in an alleged criminal conspiracy to steal Lego sets for sale to collectors, following the arrest of three people who were reportedly in the process of lifting several boxes of the plastic building bricks from a toy shop outside of Paris.
The Denmark-based Lego Group only markets any given collection for two years before withdrawing it from official sales. It’s because of this limited availability that a lucrative secondhand market for the sets has built up over the years, which has only grown further with the number of people looking to stave off lockdown boredom amid the ongoing pandemic.
Promising potential profits of as high as 16 times the initial value of a set, the market attracts its fair share of unscrupulous actors: so-called “Lego-looting” enterprises have also been detected in Canada, Australia, and the U.S., where in 2005 San Diego police reportedly busted a group of women in possession of more than US$235,000 worth of the toys.
Meanwhile in the Dominican Republic, a fugitive member of the Cacciola clan ― one of many families comprising Italy’s fearsome ‘Ndrangheta mafia ― was arrested on Monday after police were able to identify him from a number of videos posted on his YouTube channel, which he used to flaunt his prowess as an amateur chef.
While Marc Feren Claude Biart had been at great pains to conceal his face from the camera, it was ultimately his distinctive tattoos, featured in the videos, that led the authorities to his door. He faces charges relating to an alleged cocaine-trafficking conspiracy in the Netherlands....
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We didn't have time to get to last week's unorganized crime so here it is. We're leading off with:Meanwhile in Paris, authorities were forced to row back on an announcement they had seized one million euros (US$1.2 million) worth of ecstasy when it transpired that the pastel pink tablets were, in fact, confectionary.
Toxicological analysis of the suspected drug shipment revealed that the pills were actually made of the same powder used by the manufacturer Haribo to produce its Tagada Strawberry Gummy Candy product.
Prior to discovering the error, police had initially described the seizure as the result of a “fruitful” investigation.
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